The present disclosure relates generally to building management systems. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems and methods for identifying faults in a building management system Ethernet ring network, such as device faults, cabling faults, and/or cabling errors.
A building management system (BMS) is, in general, a system of devices configured to control, monitor, and manage equipment in or around a building or building area. A BMS can include a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a security system, a lighting system, a fire alerting system, another system that is capable of managing building functions or devices, or any combination thereof. BMS devices may be installed in any environment (e.g., an indoor area or an outdoor area) and the environment may include any number of buildings, spaces, zones, rooms, or areas. A BMS may include a variety of devices (e.g., HVAC devices, controllers, chillers, fans, sensors, etc.) configured to facilitate monitoring and controlling the building space. Throughout this disclosure, such devices are referred to as BMS devices or building equipment.
In some BMS systems, at least some of the devices are connected in a network and particularly, in an Ethernet network. In many system, the Ethernet network may be configured in a ring topology such as a ring using a Media Redundancy Protocol (MRP) ring protocol. MRP rings can provide for single fault tolerances such that connectivity within the ring can be broken (e.g. a device fails or goes offline, or an Ethernet cable between devices is cut or disconnected) without impacting the network connectivity of the (other) devices in the ring.
While MRP rings provide a robust ring topology for a network there is currently no mechanism to accurately determine the order of the devices in the ring or how the devices are connected to each other (e.g. which switch port on a device is connected to a specific neighboring device). This data could be useful to verify that the devices in the MRP ring are connected correctly as per the system design. Further, device order and connection data can be useful in troubleshooting an MRP ring when errors or faults occur. Thus, it would be advantageous to have systems and methods that could automatically determine an order and connection scheme of devices connected in an MRP or other Ethernet ring topology.